[CIMC-working] Re: PROPOSED FEATURE: Northern Illinois Confederation of PeaceGroups is Formed

[Chris Kaihatsu]

----- Original Message -----
From: Doug Morris <being@enteract.com>
To: Ian Bicking <ianb@colorstudy.com>
Cc: <imc-chicago-working@lists.indymedia.org>
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 6:56 AM
Subject: [CIMC-working] Re: PROPOSED FEATURE: Northern Illinois
Confederation of PeaceGroups is Formed


> Hi Ian and all,
>
> The formation of a new coalition of local peace groups is newsworthy for
> center column.
> Other information can be in links to newswire posts.


Doug, Ian, all,

I think it's a fine story, or index, but is it *news*? Is it an *event*
where something out-of-the-ordinary took place that lends itself to a
factual story?

While the forming of the coalition is important and worthy of reading, I
don't think it merits center-column attention. I think our criteria should
be to feature actual, locally-produced, CIMC-intended stories (that cite
details of actions or events of socio-political import).

The definition of "newsworthy" is what we need to determine here....


Chris



>
> I suggested just previous to this proposed feature a new approach to
> features:  Short paragraphs which point to newsworthy newswire posts are
> easier to create and read.  This approach is actually used in a number of
> imcs (sometimes as the only content to features).  [The short paragraphs
> can be the first paragraph of the article or new or draw on various points
> of the article.]
>
> We are never going to have a steady flow of features if we feel features
> have to be crafted with multiple links.  Look at the gaps in October and
> November.
>
> Compilation features take a long time to write - 5 or 10 hours.   We don't
> have the volunteer effort for that.   And we really won't have the time
for
> that when certain folks leave.
>
> Ian, I don't understand your objection to straight forward language.  You
> were arguing for that in the design of titles a few weeks ago.  Many
> types/styles of writing should be welcome in our center column as long as
> they are in our principles and inform about good stuff.   Too much dry
> stuff can be deadly but is a good balance and relief from to too much of
> anything:  political details, flowery stuff, or even... too much hyper
> linking on every sentence (takes a lot of time too) .
>
> If someone wants to add zing to the paragraph, please do.
>
> Best, Doug
>
> At 12:26 AM 11/25/02 -0600, Ian Bicking wrote:
> >Reads like a press release, or meeting minutes.  It seems like it needs
> >a lot more content to make it into a feature piece.  The only news seems
> >to be "Northern Illinois Confederation of Peace Groups is Formed".  I'd
> >at least wait until the listserve (or even better a website) is set up
> >before turning it into a feature... or something -- an action, or a plan
> >of action (emergency demonstration plan, for instance), something that
> >makes it more informative.
> >
> >On Sun, 2002-11-24 at 15:39, Doug Morris wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > can we approve this for posting as a feature story summary?
> > >
> > > bar: PEACE & JUSTICE
> > >
> > > title: Northern Illinois Confederation of Peace Groups is Formed
> > >
> > > <p>On Saturday, November 23, peace and justice groups from the
Northern
> > > Illinois area met in St. Charles to explore networking possibilities
> > around
> > > the urgency of the present war situation. The group consensed to keep
the
> > > focus of their work on their local peace groups rather than put all
> > efforts
> > > into one large organizational conglomerate. It was recognized that we
do
> > > share a level of community and we should foster it in a healthy and
> > > beneficial way.
> > >
> > > <p>Read: full article (link:
> > > http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=16566 ) with
outline of
> > > steps taken.
> > >
> > > link: NEED WEBSITE link!!!!
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Imc-chicago-working mailing list
> > > Imc-chicago-working@lists.indymedia.org
> > > http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-chicago-working
> >--
> >Ian Bicking <ianb@colorstudy.com>
>
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